Insulating and indicating covering for containers



21 1927. June s. WANAMAKER INSULATING AND INDICATING COVERING FOR CONTAINERS Filed July 23. 1926 Swuentoz 35 gag/amt 2225 M I 3 fli y w Patented. June 21, 1927.

UNITEDSTATES ea'rrztrr OFFICE.

SETH WANAMAKER, 0F RAMSEY, NEW JERSEY.

INSULATING AND INDICATING COVERING FOR CONTAINERS.

Application filed July 23, 1926. Serial No. 124,479.v

My invention is a covering wherein heat or told in the contents of a container is indicated, and wherein provision is made, also, for insulating the contents against radiation and the effects of the surrounding atmosphere.

The invention is useful, more particularly, in a domestic boiler of that kind used for the storage of water in a heated condition, i. e., a stand boiler connected by appropriate piping with a stove or range, and with a dispensing faucet or faucets.

The thermal indicating means more especially for visibly indicating the depth ofheated and cold water in the boiler,

thus afiording means whereby a housekeeper v may ascertain at a glance the approximate quantity of heated water available for use.

A plurality of such thermal indicator used, preferably spaced apart in a direction ranging lengthwise of the boiler, and such spaced thermal indicators aflj'ord means whereby the depth, approximately, of the hot water is shown by mere inspection, and

similarly the depth, approximately, of the.

cold water, if any, contained within the boiler. Each thermal ind cator, in one practical form, is embodied in asuitable casing composed of metal sensitive to temperature cylindrical members which are unitary with an outer cylindrical casing, whereby the coy: ering as a whole may be fitted to a stand boiler of standard size. The mult-i-part covering serves, primarily, as a means for retaining the heat against radiation,'in order to economize in fuel required for heating the water, and for the over-night storage of water in a hot condition so as to be available for morning service. Such covering is applied by a plumber to the boiler expe ditiously, and without the use of special tools; A feature of the lnsulating covering are useful is that the outer. casing is in sections the edges of .which meet and are interconnected to produce a neat joint at each side of the boiler.

Other functions and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my covering and indicating means applied to an ordinary stand boiler.

Figure 2 is an enlarged plan view with a part of the encasing means broken away and in section, showing one of the thermal indicators.

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical sect-ion on the line 8--3 of Figure 1, illustratingmore particularly one of the thermal indicators One form of indicating means is shown in Figures 2 and ,3, whereas a practical arrangement of such means is shown. in series in Figure 1, wherein the upper two indicators show the presence of hot water within the container or boiler, whereas the three lower indicators show the existence of colder water .within said boiler; Each thermal indicator embodies a casing, 1, provided with wings,l2, a heat responsive .medium, 3, a transparent or translucent container, 4, for said heat-responsive medium, and, if'desired,

a colored member, 5, enveloped by said heatresponsive medium. The detailed construction and arrangement of the several parts maybe variouslylmodified by a skilled constructor, but as shown the casingl and its wings 2 are unitary, said casing being open at the front exposed side, as at 6, whereas the integral wings 2 extend outwardly from the casing, at the rear side thereof. The

casing is positioned within a suitable aperture or a slot provided in the encasing jacket, as will presently. appear, but it is desirable that .therear part ofthe casing as well as the lateral'wings 2 thereof shall have direct contact with the wall or shell ofv the boiler, whereas the open front part of said casing shall'be positioned next to the outer shell creasing. of the insulating acket. The container 4 is a vessel of any desired shape and size, closed at the bottom and open at the top for the entry of the medium 3, and for vthe'coloredmember 5, said open upper end being closed, securely by appropriate means, such asthe plug, 7, adapted to-be sealed hermetically. The colored member 5 is in the form of a post having an enlarged bottom end, adapted to contact with the wall and the bottom of the vessel, 4:, said post being composed of any material suitable for the purpose and being of a color which affords a desired contrast with, the heat responsive medium 3. For example, the post 5 may be composed of glass, and it may be colored red, but the material. and coloring are optional. The vessel 41 is composed of a suitable transparent or translucent material, such as glass, to render visible the medium 3 and the colored post 5, and this vessel is fitted within the casin 1 so as to besupported thereby, said vessel being exposed to view through the opening 6 provided within the front side of the casing.

The casing 1. and its wings 2 are composed usually of metal, the wings being integral with the casing. The casing and its wings are composed of metal sensitive to temperature changes, usually copper, and thus an increase or decrease in the tempera ture of the water present in the boiler is communicated by heat or cold transfer through the metal parts 1 and 2 to the casing 1, whereby the'medium 3 is affected by such temperature changes. In this connection it may be stated that the utility of the wings 2 is to provide a contact of large area by the casing 1 with the boiler, and thus in crease to a marked extent the sensitiveness of the metal parts to changes in the temperature of the water.

The heat responsive medium is composed of material suitable for the purpose, but according to my invention this material is required to be sensitive to temperature changes,

so that said medium congeals in the presence of cold, and becomes liquid in the presence of heat. While various materials meet the requirements, I have found that animal fat is well adapted for the purpose, it having been determined that the kind of animal fat known in household parlance as cresco possesses the qualities desired and, moreover, is well calculated to serve for an almost indefinite period without deterioration or appreciable loss. The heat responsive medium fills the vessel 4, and when congealed by cold, it conceals the colored post so that the medium presents the well known white color to the view of an observer, but when such medium is liquefied by heat, it becomes almost invisible to the eye, and thus the colored postbecomes visible, the contrasting colors (white and red) denoting the absence or presence, respectively, of hot water in the boiler.

The insulating covering is primarily intended to retain the heat in the water contained in the boiler by reducing the heat loss by radiation, and such covering is constructed for application to a boiler expeditiously and by unskilled labor. Said covering comprises a jacket in two parts, 10, 11,

and an exterior casing, also composed of two parts, 12, 13, together with appropriate fastening means, such as a plurality of holding bands 14. The two halves or members 10,11, are each made up of superposed layers of cellular material, 15, (see Figures 2 and 3), housed within a suitable sheathing, 16, the layers and sheathing 16 being joined to and unitary with one of the two parts 12 or 13 of the outer casin Obviously, the cellular material 15 may be composed of fibrous material well known in the insulating art, and these layers are superposed to produce a multiplicity of air cells, said layers being encased Within the sheathing 16, and the whole bonded or united to one of thehalf sections 12 or 13. The section, 12 or 13, and

the jacket member, 1001' 11, constitute units present the required neat appearance and to afford protection to the cellular jacket members 12, 13. The adjacent edges of the casing parts 12, 13, may be interconnected by means appropriate for the purpose, but as shown in Figure 2, an edge of one casing member is folded or doubledupon itself at 16 to produce a flap, 17, whereby a jointclosing member, 18, is adapted to overlap the adjacent edges of the two parts 12, 13, said closing member 18 being'retained in position by frictional engagement with the folded and flap-formed edge 16 17, of one of said parts 12. The flap 17 of one part 12 extends to and over the proximate edge of the other part 13, whereas the closing member 18 is in lapping relation to the proximate edges of both parts 12, 13, said closing member 18 being in frictional engagement not only with the part 13 and with the jacket member 11, but with the folded edge 16 of part-'12, so that theclosing member is retained securely in position with reference to of both parts 12, 13. i

The two-part jacket 10, 11, and the twopart casing 12, 13, having been assembled with the plates 18 around and into contact with the boiler, these parts are retained se curely in'place by outer bands 14, any desired number of which may be clamped around the casing 12, 13, for fixedly holding the insulating covering in position upon the boiler.

The insulating covering is constructed wlth a desired number of slots oropenings.

the proximity 6, for the accommodation of a plui'ality'of thermal indicators, see Figure 1. As shown,

whereby the glass vessels 4 are retained se-.

curely in place so as to expose the indicators to the view of an observer. With the water of the boiler in a hotcondition from bottom to top, the heat responsive media, 3,'in all the indicators will become liquefied and all of the colored posts will thus be exposed to view, but this condition seldom obtains in the usual service of domestic boilers. On the contrary, the water at the lower part of the boiler is in a more or less cold condition, whereas the water at the top becomes heated, and thus the two upper indicators respond to the hot water conditions, as shown in Figure 1, by the display of the colored posts, and, again, the three lower indicators respond to the cold water condition, wherein the heat present in the relatively cold water is so low that the media 3 are not liquefied and remain in a congealed state, so as to conceal from view the colored posts by the enveloping media.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device for insulating and indicating the thermal condition of a domestic boiler, the combination of an insulating covering substantially encasing the boiler, and a thermal indicator co-operable with said covering and exposed to view through the same, said thermal indicator embodying a liquefiable enveloping medium and being in contact exterioi'ly with said boiler and influenced by the transference of heat from said boiler.

2. In a device for insulating and indicating the thermal condition of a domestic boiler, the combination of an insulating covering substantially encasing the boiler, and a thermal indicator exposed to view through said covering, said thermal indicator em bodying a liquefiable enveloping medium and a heat transferring member in exterior contact with the wall of said boiler.

.3. In a device for insulating a domestic boiler and indicating. the thermal condition thereof, the combination of an insulating covering substantially encasing a boiler, and

"a thermal indicator co-opei'able with said in sulating covering and exposed 'to' view through it, said thermal indicator including heat transferring means in exterior contact with the boiler and an enveloping heati'esponsive medium adapted to liquefy and-solidify under the thermal changes of the boiler.

- 4. "In a device for insulating a domestic toner and indicating the thermal condition thereof, the combination with an exterior covering, of a thermal indicator cooperable with, exposed to view through, said cover ing, said thermal indicator including a metallic encasing member for a liquefiable substance and provided with an extended heattransferring member unitary with said encasing member, and an enveloping liquefiable substance within said eiicasing member, said encasing member and said extended member being positioned relatively to the exterior covering for direct contact with the exterior surface of the boiler.

5. In a device for insulating a domestic boiler and indicating the thermal condition thereof, the combination with an exterior covering, of a thermal indicator co-operable with, and exposed to view through, said exterior covering, said thermal indicator including a chambered metallic member, an iiidicating member within said chambered member, and a liquefiable substance enveloping said indicating member and contrasting in color therewith, said chambered metallic member being positioned relatively to the exterior covering for direct contact with the exterior of the boiler.

V 6. In a device for insulating a domestic boiler and indicating the thermalcondition thereof, .the combination with an exterior covering for encasing the boiler, and a thermal indicator co-operable with, and exposed through, said covering, said thermal member embodying a chambered casing for a liquefiable substance and provided with heat-transferring wings extending from said cham bered casing, said wings and the chambered casing being composed of metal sensitive to the influence of heat and adapted for contact directly with the boiler.

7. In a device for insulating a domestic boiler and indicating the thermal condition thereof, the combination with an exterior covering, of a thermal indicator exposed to view through said covering, said thermaliiidicator including a metallic supporting member provided with extensions adapted for contact with a boiler, a transparent encasing member supported within the supporting member, and a liquefiable substance within the encasing member.

8. In a device for insulating a domestic boiler and indicating the thermal condition thereof, the combination with an exterior covering, of a thermal indicator exposed to view through said covering, said thermal indicator including a chambered member, a heat-responsive medium composed of a liqueliable substance within said chambered memher, and an indicating member enveloped by said heat-responsive medium.

9. In a device for insulating a domestic boiler and indicating the thermal. condition thereof, the combination of an exterior coverin substantiall 1 encasiiw the boiler and indicating theliot and cold nature of the water in. different parts of the boiler.

In testimony whereof I have hereto signed my name this 17th day of June, 1926.

SETH VVANAMAKEB. V 

